In a country where mass shootings are taking place every week, ProtectED Rooms is aiming to save lives with its new product.
ProtectED, a startup behind a bullet-resistant bookcase to protect students and others in violent situations, officially launched Wednesday morning. The Atlanta-based company also announced its expansion into the Northeast with a presence in Boston.
Pete Facchini co-founded ProtectED after retiring as a Master Sergeant of the U.S. Army’s elite 75th Ranger Regiment in 2019. As a schoolteacher’s husband and father of three, Facchini felt moved to act following the tragic shootings at Virginia Tech and Sandy Hook. After his Army career, Facchini teamed up with childhood friend Tim Cahalin, a furniture designer and architect, to create the bullet-resistant bookcase.
“I just thought…how can I create something to buy time for first responders or people to come and deal with the situation,” Facchini said. “Everybody thinks you call 911, they show up right away and the incident is over.”
In everyday use, the product works like any typical bookcase. But in an emergency situation, Facchini said, the bookcase rolls in front of the classroom door and locks into place. Facchini described it as a car door lock with a strike plate, or bar, that sticks to the wall on either side of the door and a latch on the bookcase that, once pushed against the bar, rotates closed. The bookcase has panels in it to provide ballistic protection. On the back of the bookcase facing outside the classroom is a mirror. Facchini said this is a psychological deterrent aimed at buying more time for first responders.
“After talking with some behavioral health specialists, they agree words are very touchy. Words can either make someone more angry, less angry, you just don’t know. But somebody staring at themselves, looking at themselves, most definitely buys some seconds and could possibly de-escalate the situation,” Facchini said.
Facchini also enlisted Army colleagues Jake Ahle and Tom Ankenbauer to help launch the company. Ahle and Ankenbauer attended Harvard Business School and MIT’s Sloan School of Management and graduated in May 2022. They shepherded ProtectED through programs like Harvard Innovation Labs, the HBS Rock Accelerator and MIT Sandbox. Facchini said the company was awarded some funding through these programs, but otherwise is entirely self-financed.
Ankenbauer now works out of Cambridge and oversees finance and operations. ProtectED said it is working with Massachusetts-based Safety in Seconds and W.B. Mason to manage distribution and installations throughout the Northeast.
The bookcase has so far been deployed in schools in Georgia and in New Jersey, and corporate break rooms in California. But Facchini said they see the bookcases being used in locations like hospitals, workplaces, government buildings, retail locations and places of worship.
“It is unfortunate, but necessary that school safety and security is something we have to discuss on a daily basis as educators. As a father of three and a school administrator of 20 years, I take safety very seriously,” Anthony Grieco, superintendent of Rockaway Borough School District in New Jersey, said in a statement. “The bookshelves give us an advantage in the event of a crisis situation, so we feel, and are, much safer without our students and staff feeling like they’re in a shelter.”
